Lauren Baker Email & Phone Number

Washington, District Of Columbia, United States

• Lead team of 6 analysts: advise Director on office strategy, provide first-line direction and oversight, balance portfolios and responsibilities, create and track metrics, and formulate and monitor budgets• Analyze policy, legislation, and frameworks for artificial intelligence and other key digital policy issues and develop high-level government engagement plans• Develop and deliver U.S. positions on key digital policy issues through policy workshops, trainings and formal government dialogues• Created full suite of policy resources on artificial intelligence for commercial diplomacy and government-to-government engagement use across ~80 international offices

Washington, District Of Columbia, United States

• Advise the Deputy Director General of the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service on policy and organizational strategy.• Audit, reorganize and lead the agency’s implementation of the President’s Global Infrastructure Initiative, liaising with the National Security Council, installing project management processes and reporting mechanisms.• Manage a team of three employees and multiple interns, providing performance and administrative oversight.• Lead negotiations with the Department of State and U.S. Trade Representative to implement legislation and organize working groups and interagency coordination bodies for U.S. government commercial advocacy.• Lead the business unit in congressional engagement, setting engagement targets, writing reports to appropriators, drafting talking points, handling sensitive inquiries, and working with a team of attorneys to edit and draft legislation.• Synthesize issues and recommendations across program units to create top-level briefs for executives and external stakeholders.

Washington, District Of Columbia, United States

-Leads stakeholder and congressional engagement for the International Trade Administration's Global Markets unit, home of the Commercial Service, SelectUSA and the Advocacy Center-Leads and coordinates cross-cutting strategic communications, legislative and press engagement across 100+ offices domestically and in 70+ countries worldwide-Coordinates strategic partnerships, identifying and liaising with private sector partners and designing outreach strategies-Leads organizational evaluations and capacity building programming in traditional and digital communications verticals-Advises the Assistant Secretary and Deputy Director General and senior leadership on stakeholder engagement to promote exports and investment-Drafts testimonies and speeches and sources policy expertise for hearings, inquiries and other congressional engagements-Analyzes and tracks legislation and provides technical drafting assistance

Washington, District Of Columbia

Washington, District Of Columbia, Estados Unidos

-Provided project management support for two federally-funded projects: FEWS NET and the Feed the Future Uganda Enabling Environment for Agriculture Activity (EEA)-Conducted field work in Uganda, providing support and capacity building to locally-employed staff-Provided start-up, closeout, and implementation support to project staff in compliance, registration and finance. -Backstopped project field offices in preparing and sending USAID approval requests and monthly and quarterly project reports and deliverables-Monitored and forecasted project budgets -Ensured project adherence to USAID and Chemonics rules and regulations.-Contributed to proposal writing for USAID contract bids

Greater Chicago Area

-Expanded on research conducted as an NSEP Boren Fellow, studying elite perceptions and alignments towards Chinese vs. American FDI in Mozambique -Analyzed economic and trade data to discern capital flows and build context for China-U.S.-Africa relations-Wrote original analysis using field reporting and quantitative data-Presented work at speaker series at the Chicago Council for Global Affairs

Maputo, Mozambique

-Achieves professional proficiency in Portuguese-Achieves cultural fluency in Mozambican social, political and professional environment-Works as independent consultant in branding, technology and M&E for clients in a variety of critical industries in Mozambique: extractive industries, cashew agribusiness, mobile finance, and more-Conducts independent research on the role of Chinese FDI in development and its relationship to civil society backlash and activism

Maputo, Mozambique

Project consultant in M&E, technology and creative services for a variety of gender-based programming focusing on consumer finance and value-chain inclusion.-Consults on data management planning and M&E strategy-Contributes to monthly, quarterly, and annual reports for donors and internal MEL-Contributes to capacity building and hosts skills training in tech and data management-Miscellaneous creative services and design for web and print-Attends field and site visits

Chicago, Illinois

My M.A. thesis focused on the politics of militarized conservation in Kruger National Park, South Africa in response to increased poaching and illegal wildlife trade. Drawing on securitization theory, my research generalized the politicization of illegal trade enforcement by drawing parallels between the green militarization phenomenon and the classic case of the American War on Drugs. Using comparative case analysis and an original data set, I developed a theory of cyclical securitization and militarization in a self-referential, self-reinforcing state of exception.

Wilmington, Delaware

-Assist with coordination of Squarespace web development project, interfacing with developer and designer and copy editing where needed. -Develop Wordpress websites for various in-house projects.-Design promotional materials and brand collateral for in-house brands.-Assist with Microsoft Dynamics CRM implementation, create and maintain HTML templates, coordinate campaigns in ClickDimensions, manage subscriptions and marketing lists. -Create and monitor at least 4 email campaigns monthly through Constant Contact, from list construction to content strategy and design. Basic HTML and CSS for email marketing.-Research and craft new business proposals for direct mail B2B and B2C campaigns.-Miscellaneous copywriting: at least 2 blog posts monthly, telephone marketing scripts, thought leadership ghost writing, etc.

Wilmington, Delaware

-Compiled program impact assessments to design annual report to Board of Directors and donors-Coordinated pledge and sponsor communications-Researched grant opportunities and drafted proposals -Executed annual fundraising event grossing $15,000-Wrote and helped design 6-page children's publication in 2 languages used in prevention programming-Creative advisement of promotional video, interfacing with filmmaker and creating storyline

Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina Area

First intern at McKinney to hold two different internship roles simultaneously.Agency Communications-Produced daily original content to communicate brand across 4 social platforms-Produced and wrote weekly, agency-wide social and digital media newsletter-Interviewed subjects and wrote weekly feature articles to post on agency intranet with basic HTML editing-Liaised with media outlets and coordinated releasesDigital + Social Strategy-Performed social audits of new business prospects, clients and competitors on a weekly basis-Analyzed trends and audited digital properties using various tools -Built weekly and monthly client-facing strategy decks and content batches-Gave agency-wide presentation on emerging social platform based on case studies and original research-Created and hosted agency-wide challenge day to encourage early adoption of emerging social media platform

Wilmington, Delaware

-Developed and managed a social media campaign for a state-wide government initiative-Created original content and engaged with target audience across four social networks-Wrote original blog posts relevant to marketing industry trends-Copywriting as needed

Wilmington, Delaware

• Design and compile database by evaluating medical records and radiologic scans• Design proposal and present preliminary findings at research conference• Participate and present in medical journal club

Master'S Degree, International Relations And Affairs

Bachelor Of Arts (B.A.), Hispanic Linguistics, Second Major In Religious Studies, Gpa: 3.69 Major: 3.75

Activities and Societies: Honors Carolina, Renwick Minority Scholars, Kappa Kappa Gamma

High School Diploma